Is a local Selma museum haunted?

It's said that if you visit the Selma Pioneer Village, located in the small town of Selma, that you can hear ghostly noises and sometimes see shadowy figures in the trees at night.

The Selma Pioneer Village started in 1980 when local resident Art Gonzales began collecting historic Selma area buildings. These included a Queen Anne style home, St. Ansgar's Lutheran Church, a railroad depot, the Unger Opera House, a doctor's office and the very first school house in Selma. There's also a large collection of ag equipment and tools as well other antique furnishings including toys and medical equipment.

The paranormal stories stem from an over night stay at the park. One witness claimed to have heard strange noises that sounded like spurs jangling while they were there late one night, but upon investigating they couldn't find where the noises were coming from or who was making them. Later that night they begin to hear what sounded like children laughing and when they went outside to see who was there, shadowy figures were seen darting from tree to tree. Another witness claimed to have heard noises coming from the area where the dutch ovens (very large, heavy oven) were at. But when a flashlight was shined on the area, there was no one there.

So that leads to the question, who or what is causing these strange incidents? Given the fact that most, if not all the buildings are over 100 years old there is a good chance that a spirit may have formed an attachment to one of them. And as far as I know, not all the buildings were originally at the same location, but were relocated there. It's a theory among paranormal investigators that when a rumored haunted spot has any work done to it, or even moved as in this case, that spirit activity increases due to the disturbances going on. Could the fact that some of the buildings aren't in the original location have awakened any spirit that was attached to them and now they make their presence known to anyone who visits the village?

Another theory is that it's a residual haunting, that the sounds of spurs and children laughing (remember there's an old school house there) are just a replay of events that happened over a century ago. For whatever these sounds get played over and over and as the years progress get fainter and fainter as the energy dissipates.

As for what really is at the Selma Pioneer Village, it's hard to say. But the rumors of it being haunted have persisted for years as a friend of mine, who has lived in Selma all her life, told me she heard it was haunted since she was a kid. So it definitely wasn't some random incident and there is definitely something there if it's known to be haunted.

Furniture store in Turlock rumored to be haunted.

Minerva's Furniture in downtown Turlock

Photo courtesy of Google Streetview.

Usually the stories I write about on here are local legends I either find somewhere on the internet, in a book or from someone's first hand account. Rarely do I find any news articles on anything paranormal related, and when I do it's rarely taken seriously. So while researching a legend in the town of Turlock, I came across this article of a haunted furniture store that was ran in the Turlock Journal back in October 2010.

The article talks about how when Carlos Sandoval, the owner of Minerva's Furniture moved his store into it's current location back in 2008. As he was moving he would notice apparitions moving in the back hallway and what sounded like metal pieces being banged together in the back warehouse. Apparently the back warehouse used to be a blacksmith's shop and some of the original equipment is still there.

Eventually Sandoval decided he wanted to know what was going on and invited a local paranormal group in to investigate. The investigation occurred on Aug. 14, 2010 and a photo of a black shadow was taken in the main building as well as several EVP recordings were done. Then in a January investigation another EVP was recorded in the basement, this time of a growling like noise.

Though these things were unable to be debunked, the investigation group was still not ready to determine Minerva's haunted. But Sandoval isn't so quick to agree. He says there are still mysteries in his store and there is something not normal there.

Full source: Turlock Journal

Author: Maegan Martens

Ghost of little boy haunts Sanger residence

Is one of these houses on Acacia Drive in Sanger haunted by the

ghost of a little boy killed years ago?

In the small town of Sanger, located in Fresno County, there is a legend of a small boy's ghost that has been around for several decades. The stories goes that sometime in the mid 1900's, a young orphan boy was caught trying to steal a freshly baked pie that was cooling on a window sill of a local farmer's house. When the boy ran off with the pie, the farmer chased after him. The boy was finally caught on what is now Acacia Drive and was shot and killed while begging for his life.

Over the years people have reported seeing a young boy in one of the residences on Acacia Drive (for privacy I'm not going to reveal the address) begging for his life. Food missing from the refrigator have also been reported. Apparently this story is rather common in Sanger. A very good friend of mine used to work for the Sanger police department and was telling me a few of the local ghost stories (one he told me scared the hell out of me, but I'll save that for another day). He starts to tell me about the ghost of a little boy who keeps stealing food from these people's refrigator of someone that he knows. I ask him if the house is on Acacia Drive and he looks at me suprised and says yes. I told him about the story that's been around for years and was suprised that there may be a kernel of truth to it.

I asked my friend if it would be possible to meet with the people who live at the house to see what is going on. Unfortunately I never did get the chance to go there as he switched jobs soon after. But I still think about the ghost of that poor little boy still stealing food all these years later, and apparently he has never learned his lesson.

Are cemeteries haunted?

Ask any new ghost hunting group where the best place to look for ghosts is and most likely the answer will be a cemetery. Why is that? I've asked this question over the years and the response I have usually received was that there were dead people there and that should mean there are ghosts there as well. But there isn't any fact behind this, it's just an assumption.

Cemeteries, like this one on Belmont, are thought to be haunted

even when there is no history of activity. (photo by Michael Banti)

It's assumed that since people are buried in cemeteries, that the spirits are still there and therefore can haunt the cemetery. Most hauntings occur where someone has either died or had some sort of personal connection to the place or perhaps a person there. Cemeteries usually don't have this (there are exceptions as I will explain later). Paranormal groups will wander the cemetery late at night (hopefully with permission) armed with the usual equipment (cameras, voice recorders, etc) and hope they get a photo or an EVP when there was never any evidence that the cemetery had any activity to begin with.

Now I'm not saying that I wasn't guilty of this as well. When I first started investigating in the summer of 2000, one of the first places my group investigated a cemetery. We figured there had to be ghosts there since it was a cemetery. We wandered around for a few hours, taking pictures. Of course all we got were dust orbs, but as I had mentioned in a previous post we didn't know any better. So since we saw "orbs" we felt we were right into assuming the cemetery was haunted. One has to wonder if this could be one of the causes of the assumption that cemeteries are haunted? That someone took photos (for whatever reason) and a dust orb showed up and they assumed it was a ghost. They then tell all their friends they captured a picture of a ghost at said cemetery and then it spreads from there.

There are some cemeteries that are actually haunted, but they have one or two specific ghosts to them. There is a small cemetery outside the town of Paso Robles called Adeliade Cemetery and the story goes that a woman named Charlotte lost her two young children to a dyptheria epidemic in the late 1800's. Distraut over her children's death, she commited suicide. The story continues that every Friday night between the hours of midnight Charlotte would appear and leave flowers on her children's graves. I had the chance to invesigate this cemetery a few years ago and it still remains one of the strangest expierences I've ever had. Unfortunately it's not the norm regarding cemeteries.

The purpose of this article isn't to discourage people from investigating cemeteries, just make sure they have had some sort of activity in the past and that it's from a reputable witness. Don't go into one assuming since people are buried there that there are ghosts there. If I was a ghost, I wouldn't want to stick around where my body was at. I'd rather be at some place interesting. In closing just make sure there's actually something there before you go. And please get permission from whomever owns the property. Even though it is a public place, it does have operating hours and you will be charged with trepassing if you go after closing and without permission. Don't ruin it for everyone else just because you were looking for a thrill.